Crave
by beeftony
Summary: It started out as drinks and an interview. How did it get this far without her noticing?
1. Shut Up and Dance

**i. Shut up and Dance**

Contrary to popular belief, Kara Danvers _could_ get drunk. Her Kryptonian constitution countered most of alcohol's effects, meaning she could drink an entire bar full of people under the table before feeling a buzz. She and Alex had tested it once, when she'd done exactly that, and got all the drinks for free by winning the bet they'd made with the other patrons.

So it _was_ possible to make her tipsy, but it was _very_ expensive.

Something told her that wouldn't be an issue for the woman across from her.

She'd been to this club before. Back when she was… not herself. Kara fought the urge to hunch her shoulders and curl in on herself, letting the steady thump of the music relax her nerves. The margarita in front of her was doing nothing, but she didn't make that obvious.

They were seated along a row of stools about thirty feet from the actual bar, with a long counter just wide enough to place a few drinks on running alongside them. The club had not been designed with many proper sitting areas, considering the primary activity here was dancing. Still, they had this little corner to themselves, and even with her super hearing she had to concentrate to make out conversations across the room, so she could be reasonably certain that their conversation was private.

She failed to stifle a jitter when she smiled and opened her mouth to talk, while the woman in the other chair remained poised as a Persian cat, staring at her with a coy smile that had been there the whole night.

"Well, um, thank you for agreeing to this interview, Miss Luthor."

The smile grew. "Please, call me Lena. This is as much a social engagement as a professional one."

Kara's smile turned bashful as she dug out her phone. "Very well, Lena. Is it okay with you if I record this?"

"Anything I say sober is on the record," Lena Luthor promised. Her eyes were hungry, but not threatening. Kara knew enough about Luthors to understand that they looked at everybody like that. "I figure I've got two more drinks in me before that becomes null and void."

Sandalwood. That was what she smelled like. Kara bristled slightly before shooing out the random thought that popped into her head as she realized she had been trying to identify the other woman's perfume for the last twenty minutes. It did strike her as strange that a Luthor would choose such a common scent. She would have figured her for some thousand dollar French perfume made from poor children's tears, not something Kara could buy herself at the local drugstore.

Okay, that was being unfair.

The scent was at odds with the rest of Lena's outfit, too. Free of her business wear like a snake shedding its skin, she had clad herself in a stunning black number with a modest collar but a decidedly un-modest hem. Her jewelry was clearly designer, and while Kara was confident that Ms. Grant could perfectly recite every detail of them, she had never concerned herself with luxuries she couldn't afford.

Best she could figure, the perfume was sentimental. Something she'd been wearing for a long time. Kara wasn't sure what to make of that.

"You gonna ask a question?"

Kara jolted in her seat as it dawned on her that she'd been staring up and down at Lena Luthor for the last minute, stopping just short of x-raying her. Lena didn't seem to mind, though, and playfully leaned forward.

"I'm almost due for a refill, Miss Danvers," she said, downing a sip of her gin. "Ask away."

"Call me Kara, please," she said with a great deal more confidence than she usually employed in this identity.

Lena's smile only widened.

"After the multiple attempts on your life in just a few short days, how would you say you're dealing with the fact that your brother wants you dead?"

The other woman laughed. "Wow. You've been a reporter for one week and already you're going with the hard hitting questions right out of the gate. And here I thought CatCo was just a fashion magazine."

"We're full of surprises."

"Well, to give you an honest answer, I'm disappointed in my brother. I never thought he'd be so petty as to try and kill his own family over rebranding the company. Then again, this is a man who started a rivalry with Superman just because he thought _he_ should be the most powerful man on the planet."

"So you believe the attacks were motivated by your brother's ego?"

"Was there ever anything else that motivated him? I suspect we won't know the full reason any time soon, but that would be my best guess."

"Before all this happened, did you think Lex Luthor would be capable of this?"

Lena's smile turned somber for a moment, and she looked down in quiet reflection. The gesture was clearly practiced, but most likely genuine. "I didn't. I loved him, you know. Growing up. But I guess I never really knew him at all."

Kara's expression softened as well. She'd spent the last several days, with Clark's help, practicing how to conduct an interview. Stay focused, probe until you find something to latch on to, and don't let go. She couldn't act like she had been all night, bashfully responding to Lena Luthor's far more refined presence. She had to act like Supergirl.

But Supergirl knew when to back off. At least, she did now.

"Moving on, what are L-Corp's plans going forward? You spoke of paying a debt back to the world, starting here in National City. What does that look like, in your mind?"

The other woman cocked her head to the side, and the smile returned. "You _are_ a natural."

Actually, Clark had helped her write the questions. But she had to admit that part of the reason she'd taken the plunge to become a reporter was because the woman in front of her had expressed so much interest in the idea.

"That information is already public knowledge," she continued. "We released a press packet the other day detailing the next five years of projects in biomedical research, aerospace engineering, agricultural breakthroughs, and more. Anything more detailed is proprietary and confidential."

"I'm not talking about your projects," said Kara, with more of a backbone than she thought she had. "I'm talking about giving back. How does your company intend to atone for the sins of Lex Luthor?"

That wolfish grin kept getting wider, and her crystal blue eyes kept getting hungrier. She finished off the rest of her glass, without breaking eye contact.

"We already support a large number of charitable projects, and we still contribute heavily to the reconstruction effort in the area my brother razed to the ground when he caused that earthquake. We don't even take advantage of the tax breaks that would normally accompany such an endeavor."

She didn't have a follow up to that. Kara had to admit, Lena was genuinely committed to making up for what her brother did. Even if she hadn't believed so at first, it had been clear to her ever since the other woman moved from being a suspect to being a target.

Lena raised her hand at a waiter passing by, who took her empty glass and returned moments later with a fresh one. "You have until I finish this drink. I'm a bit of a lightweight, unfortunately."

"Really? Statistically, blue-eyed people have the highest alcohol tolerance."

Winn had informed her of that, before he knew the real reason it was a herculean effort to get her drunk.

"I'm Irish too, and yet somehow, if I have more than one drink I'm suddenly glad I have a chauffeur."

"Can I print that?"

For the first time, she laughed without any refinement behind it, even snorting a little. "Go right ahead. It'll be the scoop of the month."

"Do you normally drink during your interviews?"

Lena made a point of finishing a sip before she answered. "As I said, this isn't entirely an interview. You interest me, Kara Danvers."

Blood rushed to her cheeks and the journalistic poise she'd spent the last few days cultivating collapsed like a sand castle caught in high tide. "H-how so?"

"Well, you showed up to my office next to Clark Kent, for one thing. How do you know him?"

"I work with his best friend, James Olsen," she answered, deciding that the truth was best, even if it wasn't the whole story. It had worked on Cat, after all. "He introduced us."

"You must have made pretty fast friends with Clark, too, to be at his side like that."

She smiled sheepishly and began to stir the margarita she hadn't touched in minutes. The ice was starting to melt, and it tasted watered down when she took a sip. "I have that effect on people."

Lena grinned wider and adjusted so she was sitting up straighter. "I'd say so."

Clearing her throat, she put her phone between them again. "Final question. What legacy would you ultimately like for L-Corp to leave behind?"

She smirked, and took another long sip of her gin. "You can do better than that."

"Okay." Kara sat up straight and stared her in the eyes. "What legacy do _you_ want to leave behind?"

"I want people to remember me for the things I did, not the things my brother did. I want them to see how I built where he destroyed. How I gave where he took. How I made friends… where he made enemies."

Before Kara could ask another question, Lena stood up, downed the rest of her gin in a single gulp, and exhaled while leaning over the table, her hands splayed in front of her. A new song began to play, and she couldn't help wondering how the other woman had timed that so perfectly.

She was staring again, but this time Kara didn't stop herself. Lena looked _powerful_ , in a way that Supergirl wasn't. She had absolute command over any space she occupied, thanks to her deep, sultry voice and piercing cold blue eyes combined with an aura of natural authority that couldn't be learned in any self-help book. Her eyes were still hungry, and it dawned on Kara that the same hunger was in her eyes, too.

"Time's up. Dance with me, Kara Danvers?"

She stopped the record function and put away her phone, then stood up as well. "Absolutely."


	2. Don't Know How to Stop

**ii. Don't Know How to Stop**

Somehow, they'd ended up in the penthouse of Lena's building. There was drunken giggling and fiddling with keys, feigned on Kara's part so the other woman wouldn't wonder how she'd gotten through half a dozen Fireball shots without batting an eye.

At last the door opened, and Lena surged forward to the nearest sofa and leapt onto it, turning over in midair and laughing hard as she landed. Kara shut the door behind her and moved more cautiously into the space, faking a stagger.

What struck Kara about the penthouse was that it wasn't terribly extravagant. There were no million dollar art pieces or other vain conversation starters meant purely to convey wealth and status, signifying nothing of substance. Everything looked expensive, of course, but it had _purpose_. Pine, dark granite, and aluminum dominated most of the space, accented with frosted glass that pulsed with different colored bulbs embedded into it.

They were currently in the central entertainment area, with a number of seats gathered around a large petrified tree stump embedded into the floor. A hall to the right led to what looked like a kitchen, and a desk occupied the far end of the room, in front of an enormous plate glass window. She clearly wasn't worried about snipers, though the glass _did_ look bulletproof.

The bedrooms, she surmised after x-raying the place, were down a hall to the left, and there was a staircase leading up to at least two more floors. Kara suspected she could spend days in this place and never uncover all its secrets.

"Nice, isn't it? Too bad I hardly see it."

She sounded decidedly less tipsy now that they had made their way across ten city blocks in the back of Lena's personal car. Kara was keeping an ear out for anything that might require her to suddenly make an excuse and leave, but the evening was inexplicably uneventful. As if she were meant to be here.

"Busy schedule?" She started walking forward, slouching down onto the couch next to the other woman.

Lena nodded. "I love it, though. Wouldn't trade it for the world."

"Especially since you already own half the world."

She sat up, cocking her head and looking at Kara with interest. "There is that. But I meant what I said earlier. I want to make a difference in the world and make people forget about everything my brother did."

"I believe you."

"Then that's my mission accomplished."

Kara squinted a little. "Is that why you asked me to interview you?"

"No." She shook her head. "I wanted to get to know you. Where you come from, who you are. I find you fascinating."

Something about the way she said that brought back the tremor Kara felt when the other woman had asked her to dance. No one had ever said these things to her before, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to run or go deeper down the rabbit hole.

"Well, your turn to interview me, I guess. What do you want to know?"

"Where were you born?"

"Somewhere far away."

Lena grinned. "What were your parents like?"

"I was adopted," she said. "My mom and dad welcomed me in with open arms, and even though my sister took a while to warm up to me, she's the best friend I've ever had."

"Well what do you know." She was moving closer, and Kara let her. "Something we have in common. Except my story doesn't end as happily as yours."

"Who says it's the end? If there's one thing I've learned, it's that people can always change."

Lena chuckled darkly. "Have you ever had your family try to kill you?"

"Actually, yeah." She frowned and stared at the floor. "My aunt. We didn't always see eye to eye and… I don't want to go into details. She's dead now."

For the first time, Lena's coy, playful exterior cracked and was stripped away, and Kara saw genuine sorrow on her face. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I've made my peace with it. I've had a lot of experience with loss."

A hand began stroking her back, and the other woman moved further into her space. Kara offered no resistance, and after a few moments, welcomed it. The smell of sandalwood grew stronger, reacting with the sweat from their dance to become a cloying, omnipresent scent that was strangely comforting.

"I have too."

Kara's next exhale came out as a shudder as Lena began to massage her shoulders.

"You have a lot of tension back here," she said. "Probably other places too. Do you do anything to de-stress?"

Well, punching bad guys worked wonders. But the dance they'd shared earlier had taken some of the load off too.

"I tried yoga."

"Oh, don't fall for that suburban hippie crap. It's a mockery of the actual tradition."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"I like to go shooting," she answered, smiling. "I also keep one of those little stress balls in my desk at all times, and I take self-defense classes three times a week."

"Well, that's one way to do it."

"Nothing more cathartic than hitting a target dead center at 900 yards."

Kara laughed. "You should hang with my sister."

"Oh, but you're so much more fun." She motioned for Kara to pivot so she could continue the massage from a more optimal position, and she obliged. "You should let your hair down more often," she said, removing the hair tie that made her look distinctly unlike Supergirl. At least her glasses were still in place.

Her hands moved to the middle of her shoulder blades and she began to slowly rub up and down with her thumbs. A moan that Kara didn't think was possible for her to make slipped out as a wave of pleasure shot through her. "Oh, that feels so good."

"I actually got a degree in massage therapy," she said, continuing to move down her back. "I had a few extra years of education while Lex was running the company. I figured it would make for a good life skill."

"Well, you were right," Kara nearly whimpered. How this was even possible she had no idea. She had enough experience to let herself be touched without harming the other person, and her muscles only really put up resistance to bullets and the like. Still, she had _never_ had a massage this good in her life.

This continued for the next several minutes as Lena expertly worked over her back, releasing tension that Kara didn't even know she'd been hanging on to. By the end of it she felt more serene than she had ever been in her life. She let out a deep exhale and looked at the other woman in wonder.

"Thank you. I really needed that."

The smile returned. "I could tell."

Kara sat up as well she could with her entire body feeling like jello. Lena continued to smile at her.

"You've been looking at me like that all night."

"It might surprise you to learn that most people want to look at you that way," the other woman replied, unashamed. "I'm just not afraid to."

So it wasn't just a Luthor thing. Words from earlier began to gain new context. Kara _interested_ her. She found Kara _fascinating_.

"Oh!" she said, jolting up but not standing. Not running. Not yet. "I'm not—"

"Sh." Lena put a finger over Kara's lips. "Don't overthink it."

Kara sat still in shock as the other woman leaned in and kissed her.

She half expected to wake up in her bed, confused but no worse for wear. But after the fifth second of Lena continuing to be there, pressing her lips over hers, Kara accepted reality.

The reality was that she hadn't been able to take her eyes off Lena Luthor all night. There was something primal and commanding about her that stripped away everything Kara thought she knew about herself. The scent of sandalwood became all-consuming now, and Kara surrendered to a kiss that, she had to admit, felt _amazing_.

Lena pulled away a few moments later, and looked into her eyes. "Do you want me to stop?"

Kara shook her head. "No."

She grinned and kissed her again, and this time Kara returned the favor, wrapping her arms around her back. They shifted so that she was lying down, with Lena poised over her like a lioness devouring her meal. She blocked out every part of her brain that was screaming at her, and for once in her life completely let herself go.

Still straddling her, Lena grabbed the bottom of her dress and pulled it over her head, revealing a matching red set of underwear that made it clearer than ever that she had been planning this from the start. Kara felt a frisson of excitement lance through her the same way it used to when she thought of James. He was right. Something _had_ changed.

Lena clasped her hands over Kara's shoulders and hovered over her face. "You still good?"

She nodded. "Keep going."

Pressing their lips together once more, Lena began to grind against her, producing various moans and squeaks that came mostly on instinct. Kara began to reciprocate, exploring the other woman's bare skin with her hands.

Was it wrong to be enjoying this as much as she was? She barely knew Lena Luthor, though her reputation had preceded her. She had been consistently defying all of Kara's preconceived notions and taking her to places she didn't expect.

After a few minutes of this, the other woman sat up and removed her bra. Kara bit her bottom lip to stop it from quivering, and waited expectantly.

Lena held her index finger in the air. "We're getting close to the point of no return. Do you want to keep going?"

She had a fairly good idea of what Lena intended to do with that finger, and what shocked her the most was how unopposed she was to the idea. Kara wasn't as innocent as people tended to assume. There were times when she couldn't get certain thoughts out of her head, mostly about James, and had to take matters into her own hands. She'd never had anyone else down there, but she hadn't run away yet, and moreover, she didn't want to.

Kara couldn't form the words, and simply nodded.

Slowly, the other woman's hands reached under her dress and slid her panties down her legs, then tossed them on the floor. Kara shuddered, but not with fear. She didn't realize until Lena's finger was already inside her that she had trimmed her nails.

Her mouth formed an "O," and sounds escaped from her without any input on her part. The finger slid in and out, slowly at first, but steadily gaining momentum. Kara's breaths became shallower, and she closed her eyes.

A second finger joined the first, and Kara began to move her hips in sync with the other woman's thrusting. There was a practiced ease to the way Lena was doing this, far more refined than her own efforts at pleasing herself. Soon a thumb joined the party and began to massage her clit, which caused Kara to shriek.

Lena paused. "Am I hurting you?"

She shook her head. "Don't you dare stop."

Obliging her, she began to thrust faster, rubbing Kara's clit simultaneously in what had to be the most impressive display of dexterity she had ever witnessed, and she had seen Winn throw a paper ball in a trash can from across the room. She closed her eyes, arched her back, and continued breathing heavily.

It took only minutes before Kara shouted in ecstasy as the best orgasm of her life pulsed through her. There wasn't anything magical about it; Lena was clearly experienced at this and knew exactly what she was doing. But it was amazing nonetheless.

Despite herself, Kara started laughing.

"What is it?"

"I don't think I can top that."

Lena grinned wider than ever. "Do you wanna try anyway?"

She sat up and nodded. "Yes please."

"Then follow me. I've been dying to show you my bedroom since you walked into my office."


	3. Lips Like Morphine

**iii. Lips Like Morphine**

The bedroom was just as sparsely furnished as the rest of the penthouse, while still evoking a sense of wonder. Dark mahogany shelves lined the wall, filled with books and the occasional small art piece. The bed lay at the center, across from a plate glass window that covered the entire wall. Currently, the shutters were closed, enclosing them in their own private moment in time.

Kara barely noticed this as she followed Lena by the hand down the hallway and across the threshold, having left her shoes and other assorted things in the main room. The other woman moved ahead of her and sat down on the bed, her legs spread apart, naked save for thin red panties that were visibly wet. She bit her bottom lip and extended a finger, beckoning Kara towards her.

She obliged, moving closer. "What do I do?"

"Give me your hand."

This was crazy. Trying to figure out how she'd ended up here from the beginning of this evening was like trying to find her way home in a blizzard. The tracks were snowed over and she didn't know which way was north. But she wasn't unhappy with where she had ended up, just a bit confused by how quickly it had all happened.

She extended her hand, and Lena traced her fingers up and down her arm, before clutching tight around the wrist and guiding her down. Kara went along, hesitating briefly when her fingers hovered less than an inch above the red fabric.

"I've never done this before." Having it done to her was one thing. She could just sit back and let the far more experienced woman take charge. But Kara feared this may be outside her particular set of skills.

"That's okay," she said, moving the hand further down until her fingers brushed up against where they were meant to go. "Just take it slow. Start with one finger."

Kara leaned forward and kissed her to gather the courage, then slid a finger inside. It was warm and slick, and strangely welcoming. She quivered, the thrill of discovery lending her a pleasure all its own. Now she understood why Lena had enjoyed herself so much.

"Mm." Lena closed her eyes and bit her lip, leaning her neck back and grabbing the bedsheets with her hands.

Encouraged, Kara began to slowly move her finger in and out, eliciting more of the same sultry moans that stirred some previously unknown part of her. Giving pleasure felt just as good as receiving it, she decided. She leaned forward and kissed her, and continued to slide her finger back and forth.

Lena began kissing her neck, and she sat down next to her while keeping her finger inside. She started moving faster, careful not to exceed human limits. The other woman rolled her neck back, splaying her hair over Kara's left shoulder and allowing her to lean down for another kiss.

She decided it didn't matter how she had gotten here. She was going to enjoy this moment for what it was, and worry about the rest later. Lena began to writhe under her touch, and Kara felt something shudder through her as goosebumps rose on her skin. This felt good. This felt _right_.

It wasn't terribly different from the rush she got when she was out being Supergirl. But that was something she shared with the world. This was closer, more intimate, and a great number of times more concentrated, releasing ecstasy in short bursts just long enough to miss them when they subsided.

"Rub my clit," Lena commanded, and she obliged, removing her finger and doing as she was told. The other woman arched her back and moaned. She kept going.

The sandalwood perfume was closer than ever now, and she inhaled deeply before planting several kisses on Lena's neck. Lena began to buck her hips, and on instinct Kara entered her again, two fingers this time.

"Oooohhhh yes." She pressed her back against Kara's chest and maneuvered her way into her lap, giving Kara an easier angle from which to continue fingering her. This continued for several minutes until Lena finally wailed, riding the orgasm as long as she could before collapsing into Kara's arms.

They remained in that position for another minute or so. "Are you ready for more?" Lena asked, and she nodded. The other woman stood up and slid her panties slowly down as she bent over in front of her, then stood and turned around.

Well, she certainly knew how to groom herself.

The entire thing was shaven, save for a small, rectangular patch of hair located directly above her clit. Kara maintained a reasonable trimming schedule, and things had never been thick down there anyway. But this was on an entirely different level.

She stood up as well, then turned around. "Help me with my dress?"

Good thing she couldn't fit her costume under this outfit. That was why she brought the extra large purse, but somehow she continued to not require it. And if anything did come up, Clark was still in town and could probably handle it. Right now this was the only place she wanted to be.

Lena obliged and began to slowly unzip her. The dress slid off and hit the floor, followed swiftly by her bra. She spun around and the two women stood face to face, equally bare. In that moment, their differences didn't matter. They were equals.

She leaned forward and kissed her as passionately as she could. This wasn't love. Kara had known that from the beginning. But it _was_ special, and she wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. Their hands explored each other, entirely unfettered. Lena began to push her back to the bed, and she allowed herself to be moved.

When her legs hit the edge of the bed, she fell back and lay down with her feet still touching the floor. Lena dropped to her knees, running her tongue over her teeth.

Kara released a small gasp when the tongue entered her. It felt strange, but after a few moments it was all she was interested in feeling. The tongue moved to her clit, flicking back and forth with exceptional speed. She began to writhe, clutching the sheets as her eyes rolled upwards.

"Ggguuuuuhhhhh."

The tongue continued on its mission, joined soon after by a set of fingers that thrust into her once more. Lena switched expertly between licking, fingering, and doing both at the same time. After about a minute of this, she stopped abruptly and stood, making her way over to a set of drawers.

Still breathing heavily, Kara sat up. "Why'd you stop?"

She answered with a grin and a gesture, producing a large, cylindrical object that from this distance looked vaguely like a microphone. Plugging it into an outlet built directly into the bed, Lena toggled a switch and one end of the object began to vibrate.

"Oh."

Smiling, Lena moved the wand slowly over Kara's clit, and when it touched her she felt a shock of pleasure like lightning riding up her spine. "Just sit back and relax," she said. "Tell me when you're ready to come so I can make it extra special."

"Y-yes ma'am," she managed to stammer through the waves of pleasure that were assailing her. She knew what she was asking for on her next birthday.

She continued to mewl and moan while the other woman alternated between the vibrator and her mouth and fingers. A couple minutes into this, she revealed what else she had taken from the drawer, holding it up for Kara to see.

"Are you ready for this?"

Kara nodded vigorously.

After taking a few moments to cover it with a healthy coating of lube, Lena inserted the dildo slowly into her, which caused entirely new sensations to overcome her as this was significantly larger than any finger. By this point she was aroused enough that she adjusted in no time, and it didn't take long to integrate the dildo into the rhythm they had established. Just when one thing was about to bring her to climax, Lena stopped and switched to another, and by now her sweat was beginning to dampen the bed.

It wasn't until both of the toys were used at the same time that Kara screamed.

"Keep going! I'm close!"

Lena doubled her efforts, moving the dildo in and out of her while rubbing the wand on her clit with expert skill. Kara continued to writhe about, moving her hips in time with the thrusts. Her breathing was heavy, and she burned with pleasure waiting to be unleashed.

"Almost, almost…" She couldn't finish her sentence.

"Tell me when."

"Now!"

Both the toys were dropped, and Lena pounced forward, shoving three fingers inside her and continuing to thrust. Their lips met, and Kara's screams crashed against her as she climaxed. Tiny fires that had crackled beneath the surface became raging infernos, and those few seconds seemed to last forever. She rode the orgasm as long as she could, then surrendered. She breathed heavily, and the pleasure began to spread through her like water, and she was content.

They kissed again. The fire was now embers, but she didn't want to leave this moment. Not yet. She clung to Lena as they rolled over, embracing each other and continuing to make out. Eventually, the moment ended, and they parted, lying on opposite sides of the bed and staring at the ceiling.

"Holy shit."

"You're welcome."

"I need a cigarette."

"Uh-huh."

"I don't even _smoke_."

"I know the feeling."

They lay there for the next few minutes, and eventually sleep took them both.

She dreamed of dancing, of fire, and of dark red lips for which she would do anything.


	4. Coming Down

**iv. Coming Down**

The morning was never considerate.

It didn't matter that it was physically impossible for Kara to get a hangover. It still felt like she'd fallen all the way down from cloud nine to the bottom of the ocean, once the high of last night wore off and she woke up in the morning assailed by a lifetime of expectations and standards that she couldn't drown out no matter how hard she tried.

She had sex. With a Luthor. That bothered her more than the fact that said Luthor was a woman.

Kara told herself that Lena Luthor wasn't the same as her brother. That she was strong and domineering, but also surprisingly compassionate. Kara believed her when she said she wanted to make the world a better place.

Still, she couldn't get rid of the question: What would her mother think of her? What would her _sister_ think of her?

Out of everyone she knew, she couldn't imagine a single positive reaction to the fact that she'd lost her virginity to the sister of a man serving thirty two consecutive life sentences.

And she'd done it so readily! She couldn't blame red kryptonite, alien spores, mind control, or any other number of things that might have given her an excuse for how she behaved last night. But there was something about Lena Luthor that made her lose all her impulse control.

The best comparison she could draw was the night she'd chosen to save Alex from the plane crash. The night she revealed her powers to the world. She ignored everything she thought she knew about herself, everything that was holding her back, and just _did it_.

Of course, it left her with several questions. Did she like girls now? Was that why it didn't work out with James? She tested that theory by thinking of him shirtless, and got more confused because that was still a pleasant thought. Earth's notions of sexuality continued to bewilder her.

She was still naked in Lena Luthor's bed, sandwiched between the most comfortable sheets she'd ever experienced. Suddenly she understood why people fell in love with high thread counts. If this was her bed she would never, ever want to leave it.

The sun was rising now through the giant plate glass window that covered the entire wall. The shades had been opened, and Kara hid behind the sheets from the precisely zero people who could see her this high up. It was the principle of the thing.

Kara heard footsteps by the door and watched as Lena entered wearing a black silk robe, carrying a tray with eggs, waffles, bacon and French toast arranged pleasingly on a plate. There was a glass of orange juice and some coffee as well.

"Breakfast in bed?"

She nodded and dropped the sheet, her modesty forgotten in the presence of food. "I thought you would have left already."

"I cleared my entire schedule for today," said Lena. "I'm not gonna let you make a walk of shame. When you're ready to go, we'll make it together. Until then, stay as long as you like."

"Thank you," she said, somewhat flabbergasted at how _nice_ the other woman was being. She happily accepted the tray. "I actually still need to pad my interview with you. Three questions isn't really printable."

A laugh. "They _were_ good questions."

"Clark helped me write them."

"But _you_ asked them very well," Lena insisted, moving around the bed to sit next to her. "I love watching the sunrise. I'm glad you're here to share it with me."

"I'm glad you made me breakfast."

They both laughed.

"But seriously, were you trying to seduce me the whole night?"

"I'm surprised it took you so long to notice."

Swallowing her eggs, Kara shook her head and shivered a bit. "God, this is not where I pictured being this morning."

"I figured you'd never done this before. That's why I made sure I was here. So you don't go spiraling down a hole of self-doubt. Believe me, I've been there."

She nearly spat out her orange juice. " _You?_ You're the most confident woman I know, aside from Ms. Grant."

"I wasn't born this way," said Lena, patiently. "I had to work for it. I've been on your side of things more than once with partners who didn't really appreciate me once they'd gotten what they wanted."

"Well, thank you."

"Don't mention it." She reclined further back on the bed, still watching the sun rise over the city.

"How _are_ you so sure of yourself, anyway?"

Lena smiled, not the devilish grin she'd worn last night, but warmer and more relaxed. "Lots of public speaking classes and a little natural charm. Everyone has their doubts about themselves. I just know how to keep mine behind a mask."

"You just make everything seem so effortless," she said. "Everything about last night… it's like you planned it down to the last detail."

" _That_ was me hoping for the best and doing some quick improvising," the other woman said. "And it doesn't hurt that I have experience. I haven't known you very long, but I get the sense I couldn't trick you into doing something you didn't want to do."

"And I'd never accuse you of that," Kara replied as she began to devour her French toast. "That's what gets me. How did you know I wanted that? Especially when _I_ didn't even know?"

"Again, experience. And a little optimism."

Kara leaned back against the headboard, careful not to accidentally break it. "Do you do this for all your one night stands?"

"It doesn't have to be a one-time thing," she said. "Despite my family's reputation, I don't use people up and throw them away like toys. I initiated this because I like you, Kara. I don't fool around. Not anymore."

She pressed her fingertips against her forehead and closed her eyes. "That's not what I'm trying to say. It's just... I just broke up with someone."

Lena shrugged. "So I'm your rebound. Nothing wrong with that. Happy to be of service."

"No, it's not that." She sat up and waved her hands in front of her face. "We'd only been dating a few days, but that was after me pining over him for like, a year." She stared into her breakfast, tempted to stop there.

"But once we were together, it was like… like I didn't want him anymore."

"Can I ask who it was?"

She sighed. "James Olsen."

Lena's face perked up in surprise. "You're telling me you were dating _James Olsen_ , the world's hottest photographer, and you didn't hold on to him for more than a couple days?"

"I know, right? He was unavailable for so long while I was chasing after him that we ended up becoming friends along the way. And dating just didn't… didn't feel right."

"Forget dating. Put me in a room with that man and I guarantee you we'll both leave satisfied."

Kara squinted at her. "I thought you liked girls."

"I do," she replied. "I also like guys. It's called bisexuality, and it's normal."

"Wait, that's an option?"

She stared at Kara for a solid five seconds before replying. "Are you really asking?"

"Sorry, it's just on Kr— _where I come from_ , people only bothered having sex for procreation. I never even had it until last night."

She'd _almost_ said Krypton. Fortunately, there were plenty of places on Earth that matched the description she gave.

"Wow, the state of sex education wherever you come from is abysmal. Not that anywhere in America teaches it particularly well." She smiled. "So I was your first?"

"Um, yeah? I told you last night that I'd never done this before."

"I just thought you'd never had sex with a woman, not that you'd never had it period."

Kara smiled sheepishly. "Somehow I thought there'd be more to it, you know? I thought it would be a step I took with someone I'd known a long time, on our wedding night. Something I planned to perfection." She shook her head.

"But instead I lost my virginity after a night of drinks and dancing with a woman I just met last week. And don't get me wrong, it was amazing, I just thought it would feel more… special."

"Don't think of it in terms of losing your virginity," said Lena. "You didn't lose anything. It's another milestone on your journey through life. I've known plenty of people who made it to what you pictured as the perfect night, and afterward they felt the same way you do now."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that nothing will ever live up to the expectations you built for it in your head. You can't force yourself to feel something that's not there. That's why it didn't work out with James."

"But there _was_ something there," she insisted. "Something that drove me to get together with him. But once we reached that point, it didn't feel the way I thought it would."

"Then I'd say you were more in love with the idea of being in a relationship than you were with the relationship itself. You set your expectations too high. Ask anyone who's been married their whole life. Love isn't just a feeling. It's also a choice you make every day. It's something you work at."

"Who told you that?"

She smiled. "Someone special. My point is, reach for the stars, but keep your expectations in check. You'll be a lot happier that way."

"I'll try and keep that in mind." She leaned back on the headrest. "You know, you remind me a lot of Ms. Grant."

"Is that your way of saying you want to sleep with your boss?"

"What? No!"

She laughed. "I'm kidding."

"She's not even my boss anymore. I mean, technically she owns the company I work for, but I don't report to her directly." She sat back up and downed a bit of the coffee. "What I meant was that you're both the kind of woman I've spent my whole life trying to be. You're strong, confident, you don't take crap from anybody, and you always seem to know what you're doing. And you both give kickass life advice."

"You've already gotten everywhere. You don't need to use flattery."

"What I'm saying is, I used to look at women like you and Ms. Grant and wonder what was wrong with me. But what happened last night helped me figure out a few things."

"Such as?"

"Do you know how many self-help books I own?"

"I guarantee you, it's got nothing on my library."

"Well, then you know I'm telling the truth when I say they all boil down to essentially the same advice. Be assertive. Be loud and take up space. Take your power back from the men of the world. Don't be a doormat."

Lena cocked her head to the side, signaling her to continue.

"And the last year or so, I've been trying to take that advice. But I realized that it's just not me." She looked directly into Lena's eyes. "There is something about you that makes me want to let you walk all over me. And until last night, I didn't understand how that could be a good thing."

"There are different kinds of people, Kara," she finally replied. "We wouldn't get much done if all the women in the world were like me or Cat Grant. Those books all preach the message that there's only one way to be a strong woman because the people who write them are usually in it for the money and go for what sells."

"Exactly. Do you know how much of a problem Ms. Grant is having with her new assistant? I bent so far backwards for her that she expects everyone to be able to do it. She came to rely on me a lot."

"You bent pretty far backwards last night, too."

"Hey!" she smacked Lena's shoulder, careful to keep it to human levels of strength. To her credit, the other woman didn't even flinch.

"I see your point. You understand the virtue of servitude. Helping others because it's the right thing to do. I'd like to think I do the same thing. We just serve different masters."

Kara set the tray aside. She would polish off the rest of that breakfast later. "And who would you say you're serving?"

"Right now? The people my brother hurt. A company as large as mine has a responsibility to the public. Our lives are never truly our own."

"Why not?"

She turned and looked Kara in the eyes. "Because everything we do affects the people around us. There's no escaping that."

"Yeah. I get what you mean."

That lesson had been one she learned the hard way ever since she'd become Supergirl. Her successes and failures could have monumental effects on the world around her, in ways that were immediately apparent on an epic scale. But she'd never really taken the time to consider how that also applied to the actions she took as Kara.

"I think I really hurt James when I broke up with him."

"So the lack of satisfaction wasn't mutual?"

Kara shook her head. "It's not even the first time someone broke up with him in the last few months. He was dating Lucy Lane before that, and things just kinda fizzled out between them. We're still friends, for now."

"I can't really tell you if there's a right course of action. Sometimes you just have to let things play out on their own, and give people time."

"I know. Thank you." She watched the sun continue to crest over the city. "Maybe we should do this again. This feels nice. I haven't been able to talk like this with anybody for a long time."

"You're welcome any time," Lena promised. "Just don't publish our pillow talk."

She held up a hand, with two fingers extended. "Scout's honor."

"Were you even in the Scouts?"

"Nope."

They both laughed.

"Hey, um… do you want to go again? I just don't want to spend all day wondering if last night was some crazy fluke."

Lena grinned and undid the sash on her robe. "You don't have to ask me twice."

Wasting the whole day had never felt so good.


End file.
